Malignaggi: An honour to face Hatton

WBA welterweight champion Paul Malignaggi will take a hard look at Ricky Hatton during his comeback fight before deciding whether or not to defend his title against the Briton next year.

Hatton will return to the ring against Vyacheslav Senchenko, the one-time WBA king, more than three years after his most recent bout, a devastating second-round stoppage loss to Manny Pacquiao.

Former two-weight world champion Hatton is aiming to improve his WBA ranking by defeating Senchenko - who the organisation rates fifth at welterweight - and manoeuvring himself into position for a shot at Malignaggi's belt.

Hatton beat Malignaggi via 11th-round stoppage when they met in November 2008 at light-welterweight.

"I want to see how Ricky looks against Senchenko and then we can talk about it," Malignaggi said. "It would be an honour to box Ricky again."

Malignaggi overcame Pablo Cesar Cano on a split decision on Saturday - although one of the three judges awarded the fight to Cano 118-109.